Plymouth State University

See further up here

Need

The goal of this campaign was to increase undergraduate and graduate enrolment, while repositioning the university as unique, different, special, and better. PSU was seeing an increase in undergraduate inquiries and admissions, but the next steps were to ensure this increase continued and to improve retention rates.

PSU also acknowledged that graduate enrolment was a key factor in growth for the university. As part of this campaign, potential graduate students would need to be identified and targeted directly.

Understanding

The most important outcome of this campaign was to win the hearts and minds of prospective students. Two key differentiators for PSU are its small campus size and geographic location. PSU is located in the White Mountains in New Hampshire allowing its students to take full advantage of nearby ski mountains, hiking trails, and rivers. As well, PSU’s small size is attractive to potential students looking for a university with a strong sense of community.

Concept

The creative concept for this campaign was based on defining PSU as the best of both worlds – a crossroads of nature and nurture. The combination of strong academic support and the culture of an outdoor lifestyle was a defining aspect of this campaign.

Delivery

Wavelight Productions was engaged for video production for this campaign. To truly capture the feeling of attending PSU, it was important for us to organize a full shoot in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Working with a small but efficient crew and a talented local director and Shooter, we produced a variety of spots for TV, web and social media. We created a 30-second TV spot that was broadcast across local New Hampshire stations and a 2-minute brand video for the PSU website and social media channels. We also created 6 15-second pre-roll spots and advertised them on YouTube and other online media channels. 3 of these 15-second spots were focused on undergraduate enrolment, while the other 3 focused on graduate enrolment.

Case Study

Plymouth State University (PSU) in New Hampshire is a client of m5 Marketing Communications. PSU and m5 worked together to establish the history of the PSU brand and to determine appropriate positioning for the future.

It was identified that PSU’s newly implemented Clusters Approach would be a key aspect for future messaging. This approach allows students to customize their degree programs and to find a combination of courses that works for each individual student. This key differentiator, along with the small campus size and geographic location, became the defining attributes of the creative concept.

Wavelight Productions worked with m5 and PSU to develop a series of videos for TV and web. Production of these videos included putting a production team on the ground in New Hampshire and shooting over a 3-day period. We then edited each video in-house, in consultation with m5’s creative team.